Attendance Matters
During the early elementary years, children are gaining basic social and academic skills critical to ongoing academic and social success. Research shows that frequent absences is clearly associated with poor achievement, truancy in middle school, and more serious consequences in high school (frustration, school suspension, credit loss, school dropout, legal trouble, substance abuse, fewer career choices and lower paying jobs).
Absent students:
miss teacher directed lessons, directions and explanations.
have "gaps" in their learning and skill acquisition.
students develop the attitude that school isn’t that important.
do not develop a sense of responsibility.
miss peer discussion and cooperative learning activities that impact learning.
have increased stress and anxiety to make up work.
miss hands-on experiments and inquiry lessons. They fall behind in the inquiry process and struggle to build upon their missed learning.
impact social relationships that they are building.
who miss one week of school tend to have 2-3 weeks of lost learning, therefore impacting the amount of learning time in a school year.
The Bottom Line
Consistent attendance is like a book: If you miss chapters 3, 8, and 12, how can you understand what’s going on in the story? When students miss school, they are missing valuable instruction – in multiple content areas – that simply cannot be replaced, making complete understanding difficult to achieve.
And it’s not just absences; it’s tardies as well. When students are tardy, it sets the tone for the day. They are always trying to catch up. Students are often embarrassed walking into when everyone else is already settled. They miss out on valuable socializing and camaraderie that occurs while students are getting settled and prepared for the day. In addition, for the student who struggles with organization and keeping up, being tardy severely impacts how their day is going to proceed. All of this creates stress for the students who don’t perform as well when they are worried about having been absent or tardy.
There are only 171 instructional days each year for elementary students, and as you can see, attendance does matter!
Early Pick-Up from School
We discourage students from being picked up during school hours, except for illness or emergencies. If a student must be picked up, however, a note should be sent to the child’s teacher and the parent must sign the child out through the office. Due to high volume in the office at the end of the day, we ask that you not check out your student after 3:00 p.m. Please call the office when you are on your way. Students will only be released to parents from the office. You will be asked to show your identification.
Planning an Absence
Please fill out the Absence Notification Form and return the form to the school office when you know in advance of an absence.